PoE 2 Beginner Guide - Everything Explained

A foundational aspect of Path of Exile 2 is that of Attributes

• Strength
• Dexterity
• Intelligence

Much of the game revolves around these Attribute types. Every Skill Gem and has an Attribute Requirement, and character Classes and Defence types revolve around Attributes as well.

Generally speaking

• Strength is associated with Life and Armour, high-damage, slower hits and Melee Skills with Maces
• Dexterity is associated with Evasion Rating, high Attack Speed, agility and Ranged Skills with Bows and Spears
• Intelligence is associated with Energy Shield, Spells, Critical Hits and Summoning abilities. Weapon types include Staves, Wands and Sceptres

But there are also hybrid types that are a blend of these archetypes

• Strength/Intelligence - Talismans, Totems, Shapeshifting. A blend of Spells and Melee
• Dexterity/Intelligence - Quarterstaves and Critical Hits. A blend of high speed Attacks with a blend of Magic
• Strength/Dexterity - Crossbows. Big, slower hits, but often Ranged

All Classes follow this theme, as can be seen in the Character Classes section, but every Skill Gem, Support and Item has an Attribute Requirement, and Defences revolve around this mechanic too.

For example, every Body Armour has 6 base types that revolve around an Attribute, and you can see the associated Defence type

• Warlord Cuirass
• Corsair Coat
• Vile Robe
• Wolfskin Mantle
• Sleek Jacket
• Death Mail

This is true for all item base types such as Boots, Gloves and Helmets

Skill Gems follow a similar theme

• Earthshatter
• Lightning Arrow
• Bonestorm
• Arctic Howl
• Frozen Locus
• Explosive Grenade

Keep this in mind and start paying attention because you'll start noticing that this forms the basis of so much of Path of Exile 2!

One major change to the Passive Tree in PoE 2 is the Dual-Specialization system. This system allows you to allocate certain Passive Points to different Weapon Sets you are using.

By the end of the campaign, after collecting all Permament Buffs and Bonuses, you will have 24 Weapon Set Passive Points with which to apply these Weapon Set Passive Points

By using the Weapon Swap System, your character will automatically match their Skills to either Weapon Set Skill Points and use those Passives with that Weapon

. For example, you can spend 24 Points on Cold Damage Passives which will be used with your Weapon Set 1 Staff that boosts Cold Skills, and 24 Points on Lightning Damage and increases to Shock Magnitude which will be used with a secondary Staff that boosts your Lightning Skills. You can also set your single Weapon to be used with different Skills and Weapon Sets, allowing for massive flexibility

The Dodge Roll is a mechanic that is available by default to every character. Dodge Rolling allows your character to quickly move in a specific direction and move out of the way of danger

When timed correctly, the Dodge Roll will avoid non-AoE Projectiles and Attacks. You can also use the Dodge Roll to cancel Skill animations if you find yourself in a bad situation.

• Rolls cannot be cancelled
• Rolling will not be faster than walking. 
• Rolling is affected by movement speed

Sprint

Sprint is another function that can be used to increase your character's movement speed at the expense of being more vulnerable to being knocked down. By default, your character will start Sprinting after you perform a Dodge Roll and continue holding down the Spacebar key

There are several primary resources in Path of Exile 2 which can be seen in the User Interface

• Life: Your Hit Points - once they reach 0, your character dies
• Mana: Used for your Skills
• Spirit: Used for Permanent Buff effects
• Energy Shield: Protects your Life by taking damage instead, and rapidly Recharges if you don't lose ES for a short period '
• Ward: a tertiary resource granted by crafting Ward onto gear with the Verisium Anvil. Ward can be used to use special Skills, but will also prevent you from dying after your Life and Energy Shield reach 0

You can increase the amount of Spirit your character has through itemisation, but by completing all Permament Buffs and Bonus Quests throughout the game, you will be granted a baseline of 100.

Skill Gems are a unique system in Path of Exile 2. Unlike other games, the Skills your Character uses come in the form of itemised Uncut Skill Gems, which can then be cut into a usable Skill Gem.

These Gems are broken up into the Weapon types they can be used with, such as Maces, Crossbows and Quarterstaves. An important note is that character Classes are not limited to the Skill Gems within their default sub-category. All Classes can use any Gem, so long as they meet the requirements to do so

Uncut Skill Gems

As you progress through the game, you will find items called “Uncut Skill Gems.” Using this item will allow you to pick any Skill Gem in the game, provided it is high enough Level.

Some Skill Gems require a certain level, so finding an Uncut Skill Gem early in the game doesn’t mean you’ll have access to every skill just yet.

By default, every character has access to 9 Skill Gems slots.

These Skill Gems are further enhanced by up to five Support Gems. Support Gems serve many functions, from merely increasing the damage of the Skill, to altering its functionality entirely. Part of making a good build is understanding and experimenting with your Skills and Supports to find the combination that works best for what you are trying to achieve.

Each additional Support gem will have a +5 Attribute cost associated with its type. For example, Elemental Armament I will require your character to have +5 Strength to equip, Multishot I will require +5 Dexterity and Considered Casting will require +5 Intelligence.

By default, your Skill Gems will have access to a minimum of 2 Support Gems when found, but this can be increased with the use of Currency items known as Jeweller's Orbs

Meta/Trigger Gems

Meta Gems are special skill gems that can be supported by both Skill and Support Gems. These are also known as Trigger Gems. When a condition is fulfilled, the Meta Gem will cast the supported Skill Gems.

For example, with the Meta Gem Cast on Shock when you Shock enough enemies (an Ailment inflicted by Lightning Damage) the Meta Gem will cast any supported Skill Gems.

With a gem like this, you can opt to cast 5 Skill Gems, as that’s the max number of support sockets. Conversely, you can set up a system where you only cast 3 Skill Gems, but the other two Sockets have Support Gems, buffing up those 3 Skill Gems.

Flasks

Flasks are a system in Path of Exile that allows for characters to recover their Life and Mana. Unlike in Path of Exile 1, characters only have two Flask slots: one for Life and Mana.

Flasks require a certain number of Charges to be used, and additional Charges will be gained as you slay monsters, with an increased number of Charges gained for killing monsters of higher Rarities.

You can also refill your Flasks at any Checkpoint or the Well within towns and your Hideout.

Charms

Instead of the Utility Flasks seen in Path of Exile 1, PoE 2 instead has a Charm System. Charms are items that will trigger once a certain condition is met, and provide a defensive bonus for a duration. For example, a Thawing Charm will be used when you become Frozen, and prevent you from being Frozen for a certain duration.

Similar to Flasks, Charms require a certain number of Charges to be used and will recover Charges as you kill monsters.

You can view your Flasks and Charms either in your Inventory Screen or on the UI beside your Life Orb

Path of Exile 2 is a game all about loot and by default, every character has 10 Equipment slots

• Weapon
• Off-hand (will be used alongside your Weapon Slot when wielding a Two-Handed Weapon)
• Helmet
• Body Armour
• Gloves
• Boots
• Amulet
• Ring 1
• Ring 2
• Belt

Different items are able to roll different modifiers depending on their base type and form a strong piece of your build. Click here if you'd like to learn more about Item Modifiers and Crafting Basics

Item Rarity

The Rarity of an Item affects how many Explicit Modifiers it can have, and these can be affected by use of Crafting Mechanics and Currency Orbs

Normal Item (White): 0 Explicit Modifiers

Magic Item (Blue): Maximum of 2 Explicit Modifiers (1 Prefix and 1 Suffix)

Rare Item (Yellow): Maximum of 6 Explicit Modifiers (3 Prefixes and 3 Suffixes)

Unique Item (Orange): Cannot be altered with most crafting Currency and may have even more than 6 modifiers in some cases.

Defences in Path of Exile 2 are complex, but this section will provide a brief overview of the basics

Resistances

Without a doubt, the most important and layer of defense are Resistances. These separate into Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Chaos Resistance and players can gain Resistances from items and Permanent Buff Quests. You can view your Resistances by pressing C to open your Character Page

By default, each character can have up to a maximum of 75% Resistance, effectively reducing the damage you take from these sources by 75%. As you play through the game, you will want to increase these stats as much as possible until you reach the cap. This is especially important if you’re about to face a boss that deals a specific type of damage.

Resistances can be unassuming, but they are very important. For example, 70% vs 75% might not seem that big of a deal, it’s just 5%. However, look at it this way.

With 75% Resistance, you’ll take 25 damage from a hit of 100. With 70%, you’ll be taking 30 damage. Taking 30 damage from 25 is a 20% damage increase from enemies.

You don’t need to immediately raise your Resistances to 75% right when you start, but you should actively look to cap your Resistances. If you find yourself dying too much in the campaign or to a boss, check to see if your Resistances are capped.

Note: It can be difficult to cap your Chaos Resistance early in the game, so don’t worry about this one too much, just try to cap this as you approach a Chaos Damage boss or are approaching the endgame.

Other Defences

Resistances only apply to Elemental and Chaos damage, but characters will also encounter Physical damage from enemies. This can be improved in various ways, with defensive layers like Armour. There are also layers that allow players to avoid taking damage entirely, such as Evasion Rating, or ones like Energy Shield that provide a larger overall Effective Hit Pool

• Strength: Life and Armour
• Dexterity: Evasion Rating
• Intelligence: Energy Shield

Energy Shield

Energy Shield is similar to Life, as it essentially increases your Health pool, but it regenerates differently. Life can be recovered with Flasks and continuously over time with Life Regeneration, but Energy Shield will fully regenerate over 8 seconds if you haven't lost any ES for the last 4 seconds (by default)

Another difference is that Chaos Damage deals twice as much damage to Energy Shield, but Bleeding and Poison bypass it entirely to damage your Life. However, Chaos Inoculation, a Keystone on the Passive Tree, allows you to be immune to Chaos Damage at the cost of reducing your Life to 1. This is how some characters focus only on Energy Shield instead of Life.

Armour and Evasion

Armour will mitigate Physical damage based on the amount of damage and amount of Armour your character has

Evasion, will provide a chance to evade damage completely

This is just a basic overview of various defensive layers that exist in the game, but we have several guides that can improve this understanding. For new players, a good place to start would be the PoE 2 Defences Guide: How to Stay Alive

Damage-scaling in PoE 2 is an extremely in-depth topic, but this segment will cover the bare basics.

Damage Types

There are four damage types in the game:

• Attacks – Deals damage mostly based on your Weapon
• Spells – Deal damage mostly based on the Gem and Gem level
• Damage over Time – Similar to Spells, scales based on the Gem and level

Attacks

Attacks are Skill Gems that will deal damage largely based on your Weapon. For example, you may have a skill called Spearfield that strikes with your Spear. As such, your Weapon will contribute to a majority of your damage.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that modifiers on your Weapon are usually “local.” This means that if your Weapon has the modifier “increased Physical Damage,”, it is scaling the base damage of your Weapon. (The same is also true for local defense modifiers on equipment)

This is extremely important to scale the damage of your Attacks, as your weapon and other sources of damage will scale multiplicatively.

Let’s give an example with simple numbers:

Let’s say a Weapon has a base physical damage of 100. The Weapon has no modifiers increasing the damage.

• If the passive tree has 100% increased Physical Damage, the resulting damage will be 200.
• • 100 x (1 + 100%) = 200
• If the Weapon has 50% increased physical damage and the passive tree has 50% increased physical damage, the resulting damage will be 225.
• • [100 x (1 + 50%)] x (1 + 50%) = 225

The same is true for things like Critical Strike Chance and other modifiers on your Weapon/other sources.

Spells

Spells differ greatly from Attacks. They have their own Base damage on the Skill Gem itself and their own Base Crit Chance.

In PoE 2, weapon types such as Wands don’t have Attack stats, but have other modifiers that will increase your Spell Damage, such as increases to Gem Levels, Cast Speed, Critical Hit Chance and Extra Damage

Damage over Time (DoT)

DoT is usually similar to Spells in that they are scaled mostly by the Skill Gem itself. DoT damage is usually present in sources of Fire Damage (Ignite), Physical Damage (Bleed), or Chaos Damage.

Currency

Let’s briefly cover Currency Items. Currency items are used to Craft gear and are also often used for Trading purposes. As you travel throughout the world of Wraeclast, you will start discovering these Currency Orbs whose effects are stated on the item. For example, Orbs of Transmutation allow players to upgrade Normal Items to Magic Rarity with an additional modifier. You can then add an additional modifier to your Magic item with an Orb of Augmentation. From there, you can upgrade your Magic item to Rare with a Regal Orb, and finally add up to three additional modifiers with Exalted Orbs.

Crafting in Path of Exile 2 can be overwhelming at first, but by understanding the basics, it will help you to engage with a fascinating and powerful system

Gold 

Gold will drop throughout the game and be automatically looted within a small vicinity of your character. You’ll use Gold at NPC vendors to buy or gamble items. Gold cannot be traded or earned outside of simply playing the game. Gold is also used for Trading and at the Currency Exchange

If you'd like to learn more about Path of Exile 2, check out some more of our in-depth guides below

• PoE 2 Beginner Guides
• PoE 2 Endgame Guides
• PoE 2 Build Guides